Trump announces new sanctions against North Korea

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order punishing North Korea with more sanctions. Trump announced the order on Thursday while at the United Nations in New York City. The executive action “significantly expands our authorities to target individuals, companies, financial institutions that finance and facilitate trade with North Korea,” the president said. During his speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump described North Korea’s nuclear ambitions as a grave threat to the world and called financial support from other countries for the regime unacceptable. The new sanctions come on the same day China’s Central Bank instructed its country’s financial institutions to stop doing business with North Korea. China’s decision offers the strongest signal yet that increased pressure from the United States and other nations has worked to influence North Korea’s trade partners. Two weeks ago, the UN unanimously agreed to strong financial sanctions against Pyongyang. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said this week those sanctions effectively cut off 90 percent of North Korea’s trade. Trump said on Thursday the new executive order grants the U.S. Treasury Department even more power to snuff out the totalitarian regime’s funding sources.